Fisheyes are all very well but the novelty soon wears off and the goldfish bowl effect is extremely limited for regular imaging...it's a bit like buying a starburst filter: you use it for every highlighted image and then get bored with it.

I completely disagree. If you can't find more use for a fisheye than a starburst filter, you just don't know how to use it.

Flattening out a fisheye field of view has serious implications for quality. I have a GoPro with a 2.5mm lens. The software can provide a flat 16:9 image but the resulting distortions in horizontal and verticals rule out quality imaging. Far better to use a 'regular lens' in the first place than squash the fisheye flat.

If you turn a 180 degree view into rectilinear form, it will absolutely produce horrible distortion. It's not supposed to be corrected. It has a different function.

The op was asking to do a straight comparison between a fisheye and a flat field lens. Then asked if correction software would replace said lens. You agree in your last that it can't.

I'm glad you agree with me. It makes my day go so much better...

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The degree of technical knowledge of the fanboi owner is inversely proportional to the size of his ego.